Elsewhere, new release The Ville has seen continued delays, Mafia Wars II wasn't well received by players, and Draw Something has proved to be a fad following its purchase of $200m.

"Facebook made a number of changes in the quarter," said chief operating officer John Schappert, according to The New York Times.

"These changes favored new games. Our users did not remain as engaged and did not come back as often."

Zynga's revenue for the quarter was $332 million, below the $343m previously predicted by analysts, while the company also lost $22.8m.

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield commented: "Right now, everything is going wrong for Zynga. In a rapidly changing internet landscape that is moving to mobile, it's very hard to have confidence these issues are temporary."

Following the news, Facebook's own shares decreased by 8%, and is expected to impact it further when the firm issues its first earnings report as a public company later this week.